Day 254

December 31 (turning January 1)

Had a fun game night with friends, preparing to ring in the new year. At midnight we set off some firecrackers. Here's Hannah with a Roman candle. Supervised, of course!

Day 252

December 29

Busy weekend so I didn't get any pictures taken. And today was busy, as well, so the only picture I actually took was this precarious stack of legal pads my boss keeps in his desk hutch. Lol

Day 249

Tonight was Candlelight Communion at church. Every other year, on the last Friday of the year, we have this beautiful service. Charlie and I put together these topiaries somewhere around 13 years ago and we still use them to decorate for the evening. Charlie, Sarah, and our friends Kayla and Kody did the decorating this year.

Day 248

December 25

Merry Christmas!

Day 247

Merry Christmas Eve!  Here's Hannah with a batch of mint chocolate brownies that she made from scratch for tonight at my parent's house.

Day 246

What a beautiful day today!

Day 244

December 21

I'm so glad my girls make good choices when we go to buffet style restaurants. This is Hannah's plate. Sarah started with a salad, too.

Day 243

December 20

Sorry for the gap in pictures. We were mostly sick all week, and I was slammed trying to get caught up at work. I just never took any pictures!

This afternoon the Children's Ministries department at church put together 20 bags of essentials (toiletries, first aid supplies, warm socks, hats, gloves, etc., plus some non-perishable ready-to-eat healthy foods, etc.) for homeless in the area. Then they split up into a couple groups and went to visit several of our church members who are shut-ins, and sang some Christmas carols for them.

Day 235

It's concert night!

Day 234

December 11

Dress rehearsal for choir!  Tomorrow is our first concert for this year!

Day 233

December 10

Sarah made biscuits for dinner tonight. They came out beautifully. She has to stick her tongue out to concentrate, like her mama.

Day 230

December 7

Today we went to Bandon and looked for a couple more letterboxes and did some shopping in the Old Town there. Another overcast but nice day!

Day 229

December 6

Today was overcast, but didn't rain. We had a great time looking up a few letterboxes, then just before dusk we went up to Shore Acres to see their gorgeous display of Christmas lights.

Day 228

December 5

We're at the coast in a yurt at one of our favorite spots - Sunset Bay State Park. It's raining tonight, but should stop before morning.

Day 227

December 4

Here's Sarah with the cake she made yesterday. She's quite pleased with herself.

Day 226

December 3

Sarah isn't technically a pathfinder, but she comes with us each week. One of the other staff members offered to teach her an honor that isn't a required one or one that the club necessarily will do as a whole. So she is thrilled to be learning cake decorating. Thanks, Jennifer!

Day 225

December 2

Hannah made vegetable pasta soup and grilled cheese for home ec class tonight.

Day 224

December 1

Sarah's been drawing lately too. Here's one of her drawings from today.

Day 223

How do you say "she's one of my oldest friends" without sounding like you're calling her old? Oh well, we've been friends for over 30 years.  And it's been about 4 or 5 years since we last got together. Even more fun, it happened to be her birthday! :) Happy birthday, Debbi!

Day 222

November 29

The kids got invited to a sleepover at the last minute. So what do Charlie and I do?  Stay home with his parents and play Acquire. Lol

Day 220

The best part of Thanksgiving. Fun with family.

Day 220

Sarah made salsa mac for dinner tonight. Yum!

Day 219

Hannah made veggie-BLT sandwiches for dinner. Well, breakfast strips, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, avocado sandwiches.

Day 218

Hannah got caught licking the casserole dish after dinner.  Guess it was tasty!

Day 217

I've been stitching, sewing, crocheting, , etc., for days! Hannah & Sarah were invited to Sarah's best friend's birthday party, and it was a costume party. Sarah and her friend both love a line of dolls called Lalaloopsy, so that's what Sarah decided to be. Hannah wanted to be a sock monkey.

Day 216

Sarah is so happy. Her new glasses finally came in yesterday afternoon.

Day 215

When your daughter has a costume party to go to, and you don't want to buy a costume, or pay the crazy prices they want for sewing patterns these days, you improvise.

A shirt that fits well to use as a pattern. Internet instructions. Packing paper. And a sharpie. Go!

Day 214

Today as we were driving around town, I was listening to Hannah in the backseat, singing along with our choir practice disc.  The song that caught my attention as she sang along was Gloria in Excelsis, in Latin. I was so proud of her!  She took on the task of being in the Christmas choir, wholeheartedly!  She's never been in a choir, other than singing with her class when she was at the church school.  So for her, at age 11, to join the choir that is comprised of 55 or so adults, and 5 pre-teen girls, is a big deal, in my mind. We're singing in Latin. We're singing the Hallelujah Chorus.  We're singing a couple songs a capella. And she's right there in it.

We got word tonight that Better Life Television will be recording the concert again this year. So it will be online for anyone who isn't able to make it to the program.

Today's picture is Hannah, at choir practice, singing Gloria in Excelsis.

Day 213

November 19

Sarah took her violin to play a song for Great-Mom. Hannah was her music stand.

Day 212

Hannah is making cornbread to go with dinner.

Day 211

November 17

Lol the only picture I took today, to show Sarah how her hair looked after she sat with her head in her hands, pushing on the headband their friend Lucy made for her.

Day 210

The girls went to a"Knights and Princesses" birthday party for a friend today.

Day 209

One of the beautiful sights from our church.

Day 208

Funny how a trip to the craft store always ends up with more in the cart than you planned on.

Day 207

November 13

Lol the *only* picture I took Thursday was of the Knight armor the Dollar Tree had. The girls are going to a "Knights and Princesses" party this weekend and we were looking for princess accessories.

Day 206

November 12

Sarah made veggie-BLT sandwiches for dinner. With cucumbers, avocado, and sprouts, too. Yum!

Day 205

November 11

Hannah made tacos for dinner tonight. With a little help from mom. ;)

Day 203

Happy birthday to my friend Lanee!  Her sister threw her a surprise party this evening. So much fun to celebrate with friends!

Day 202

Willing Heart. Our name is in lights for the first time!

We enjoyed so much our time of worship and praise with the kind folks at the Lebanon SDA Church this afternoon.

Day 201

November 7

Willing Heart is in Lebanon, Oregon for a concert tomorrow. We are sleeping in the youth room at the church tonight. They have this really interesting art hanging over the staircase.

Day 200

November 6

Bunnies everywhere!

Day 199

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get away from the Carl's Jr. 

The kids and I were running through the drive thru today to get bean burritos from the Green Burrito at Carl's Jr. , and this chicken came wandering out from behind the building and crossed the parking lot!

Day 198

Sarah always likes to see how big her pupils get when they dilate her eyes.